“Tennis” and “sustainability” don’t often go together.
But in the US alone, 125 million tennis balls are tossed into landfills each year. That’s about 20,000 metric tons of rubber waste.
Serve2Sustain is a national student-led non-profit aimed at making tennis an eco-friendly sport.
And it’s led by teenagers, right here in Westport.
Serve2Sustain chapters work with local tennis clubs to collect used balls. They’re sent to a facility where machinery separates materials for reuse. They then go to RecycleBalls and Laykold, which supplies tennis courts for events like the US Open.
The companies grind the rubber into crumbs used to construct courts.
Student chapters raise money to cover the cost of shipping balls to recycling centers, and collects balls from local tennis clubs.
Serve2Sustain was founded by Staples High School junior Shreyas Gorre and Ari Fayne, a sophomore in Chicago. Both avid tennis player, they met through the Wharton Global Youth Program at the University of Pennsylvania, where they studied entrepreneurship.
Shreyas’ Staples friends (and Wrecker tennis teammates) Lucas Ceballos-Cala and Noah Wolff, are national vice presidents of operations and outreach, respectively.
Shreyas Gorre drops off used tennis balls, at the UPS Store.
The Staples chapter has partnered with Intensity Racquet Club and Westchester Tennis Center in Port Chester.
Every month, members pick up used tennis balls, and ship them off.
Looking ahead, they hope to add more clubs (and players) to help. To help, or ask questions, email serve2sustain@gmail.com. To donate, click here. To learn more about Serve2Sustain’s national operations, click here.
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